Coupling (W.P. Stevens et al., 1974) measures the strength of connection between two modules and is defined for modules that share data or control connections. Other types of connections are possible. Among these are sharing of types, sharing of coding standards and sharing an environment. The work presented deals with the potential coupling between a program and other modules in the environment. ...
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The implementation of syntax-driven static semantic analysis of languages presenting recursive forward references in their definition, requires the handling of a syntax tree. When dealing with languages for which the syntax tree approach is very heavy to implement, a source code reorganisation operation may solve the problem more conveniently. This applies to the ISO specification language LOTOS w...
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The paper discusses several empirical studies reported in the literature aimed at evaluating the benefits of using software engineering methods and tools. The discussion highlights a number of problems associated with the methodology of the studies. The main problems concerned the difficulty of formulating the hypothesis to be tested, using surrogate measures, defining a control and minimising the...
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The paper presents a method for simplifying the complex managerial phenomena in the life-cycle software production by means of systems analysis. The reason for this is that software products are becoming increasingly complex and that project teams are, and will continue to be, the dominant way of organising software development. There is a fundamental principle; the complexity of the field in ques...
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Aims & Scope

Published from 1986-1996, Software Engineering Journal included original contributions of interest to practitioners, researchers and managers who were engaged in software engineering. It covered reports on practical experience using software engineering methods and tools, and papers on long-term research activities.